Daniel walked over. "Is she hurt?"

"I don't think so. Just ... upset. Anxious."

"Um, yeah," Corey said. "Because there are a bunch of teenagers and a very big dog blocking her way down."

"That's not it," I said. "She--"

The cat's ears swiveled and she looked sharply to the east. I caught a high-pitched whine.

"An ATV."

The others glanced about until the sound got louder. Corey heard it first and grinned.

"Hallelujah," he said. "I never thought I'd be happy to hear one of those damned things."

I flashed back to the last ATV I'd seen--driven by the people who'd set the fire. Daniel caught my eye, obviously thinking the same thing.

Corey hobbled forward. "It's just over there. Heading this--"

The ATV headlight bobbed into view. Daniel shoved Corey to the ground, yelling "Down!" to the rest of us. Sam and I obeyed. Hayley looked around, confused, until I grabbed her hand and yanked her.

"What the hell?" Corey whispered.

"Have you forgotten the last time someone ran toward rescuers?" Sam hissed. "Nicole?"

Hayley paled and flattened herself against the ground.

"That was on the other side of the hill," Corey said. "How would they even know to look for us here?"

"They had ATVs before," Daniel said. "If they're the same guys, they've had plenty of time to load those ATVs on a truck and bring them up. We should back into those bushes and watch."

The bushes were about ten meters away. As we crawled into them, we startled a couple of deer on the other side. They bolted, heading straight for the ATV.

There was a thud and a shout. The ATV motor died.

"Son-of-a-bitch!" A man's voice rang through the forest.

A radio squawked. He answered it.

"Yeah, that was me. Just hit a deer. Remind me who had the bright idea to use these damn things? Some project manager sitting in his fancy L.A. office, I'll bet. Never seen a forest, much less tried to search one. I could have hit one of the kids for all I would have noticed, whipping around like this. I can barely see through these woods. Can't hear anything. But you can bet your ass those kids can hear us."

"And a good thing, too," Corey muttered.

A voice tried to interrupt the man's tirade, but he cut it off, saying, "Calvin's got the right idea, searching on foot. I'm leaving this piece of crap here. If the Nasts want it, they can come get it. Tell Calvin I'll meet him at the bend in ten."

We heard the man stalk off, branches crackling in his wake.

"Now that's sweet," Corey said when he was gone. "An ATV, just sitting there, ours for the taking. The ride goes to the handicapped guy."

"I thought you were doing fine," Hayley said.

"My knee's acting up again." He stretched his leg and mock-winced.

"No one's taking the ride," Daniel said. "Even if it's still running after hitting a deer, it's too noisy."

"Let's wait for them to finish searching this area and move on, like they did last night," I said. "Then we'll check out that building I saw. If we can't get help there, we'll see if the ATV still runs."

After lying low for about twenty minutes, Daniel and I decided we should start for the cabin. We left Kenjii behind with Corey.

Tags: Kelley Armstrong Darkness Rising Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net